Central Australia Adventure 10 – West MacDonnell Ranges/Tjoritja

To ride through the West MacDonnell Ranges is to travel in a landscape created before time began

Mountains and rivers formed over 300 million years ago.

What an experience to camp beside and swim in the oldest river in the world.

The Finke or Larapinta River.

Ormiston Gorge at sunrise is a spectacular site from the Ghost Gum Lookout

The colours changing on the red rocks as the sun rose

The recent rains had filled the gorge with flowing water

So much water that on the Ormiston Gorge Pound Walk at one crossing it was strip off and carry packs high across the creek

But from this small inconvenience was worth it as the views from the walk were just beautiful

Ocre is prized by Aboriginal Australians for a range of purposes but primarily rock and body painting.

The Ocre pits here have provided this precious colouring for millennia

Gaps and chasms fill the length of the ranges.

Some of the creeks that run through then provide big swimming holes.

Like the Ellery Creek Big Hole

Or are a trickle that over the millennia have carved a chasm.

Tjoritja is vast and I visited only half of its amazing gorges. Maybe another visit is required

Central Australia Adventure 9 – the red/green centre – East MacDonnell Ranges

For the last couple of weeks I have been immersed in the Red Centre of Australia.

Literally immersed as the rivers, creeks and waterholes in the MacDonnell Ranges are brimming after recent rains

The MacDonnell Ranges flank Alice Springs to the east and the west.

A line of rolling mountains, as old as time itself,
Punctuated by, gorges, gaps, passes and chasms

Red and ocre rock forged into mountains by rain wind and salt over the millennia.

This journey of discovery of the Red Centre starts and finishes in these ranges so let’s start the story in the east MacDonnell Ranges.

To the east the ranges run out to the Trephina Gorge Nature Reserve.
Emily and Jessie Gaps/ Yeperenye are only a short 22km ride east of Alice Springs.

These sites have important cultural rock paintings that tell the dreamtime stories of the local Central Arrernte people.

Their dreamtime stories are represented in rock paintings at these sites. People are requested not to photograph them. So you will have to go and see them yourselves.

Corrobaree Rock was formed hundreds of millions of years ago

When central Australia was covered by sea and sand and salt formed a motar to bind these rocks into a new form.

The ghost gum is such a symbol of central Australia and this one at the entrance to Trephina Gorge is over 300 years old.

Trephina Gorge really was a perfect first taste of the magnificent canyons and gorges that were to come.

As an addendum for those following my actual where about. I left Alice Springs yesterday and now on the way to Queensland. The next few posts will be reflections on the Red Centre.

Central Australia Adventure 7 – Coober Pedy and Oodnadatta

The road from William Creek to Coober Pedy was rough with lots of sand drifts – my biggest weak spot – SAND.

A large part of the track transverses the Woomera Military Base. I’m sure the leave the road rough so no one dare look left or right for fear of hitting a big sand drift.

But due to rare summer rain the desert was green and I arrived in Coober Pedy, where the populace live underground to escape the heat on a mild afternoon.

The climatologists said it was going to be a mild summer – go climatologists.

Not a day over 30 in 4 days in the hottest part or Australia in late summer